Govt focussing on 4 Es to bring country among top 25 economies: Ahsan

CPEC to equally benefit AJK and bring it at par with Pakistan: Ahsan Iqbal

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8 (APP): Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said the government is focussing on 4 Es (Energy, Economy, Elimination of extremism and Education) to bring the country among top 25 world economies by 2025.
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had pledged the people in his party’s election manifesto to bring the country out of crisis particularly in the four sectors and now the government is successfully implementing the pledges for the prosperity of the country”, Ahsan Iqbal said while talking to media after the conclusion of a day-long consultative workshop on mid-term performance and future plan here.

He said that for the first time any government has introduced a tradition to hold a workshop for reviewing its performance after the completion of half tenure.
The minister said the ministry invited people from social sector, think tank, academia and public sector to review the performance of the government and to propose recommendation for future plan.

“We will compile all the recommendation presented during the workshop and then they would be presented before the Prime Minister for further proceeding”, he added.

He said when the Pakistan Muslim League (N) came into power, the national economy was dwindling but despite this condition, under the dynamic leadership of the Prime Minister, the government accepted the challenges and now within only two and half years it has managed to move the worst economy in to a stable one which is also now being recognized by the international economic institutions.

He said before May, 2013 the foreign exchange reserves were moving down even below the level of $6 billion but due to sensible economic policies of the government, the forex reserves have now crossed the level of $20 billion.

He said law and order situation has also been improved remarkable due to operation Zarb-e-Azb in the country.Ahsan said the government has also managed to bring down the load-shedding period from 18 hours a day to six hours in just 30 months.

He termed China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as a hallmark of the present government’s tenure which has helped to improve the country’s image in the world.

“Now we are moving towards growth in every sector including technology in which the government has introduced the latest 3G and 4G technology”, he added.

He also mentioned the challenges the government is facing due to the international economic recession which is also affecting Pakistan’s exports.

He said the government is giving special focus on resource mobilization, foreign direct investment and exports to further strengthen the country’s economy.